


If I Had Known This Was Coming (I Would've Done Things Differently)

by norakwami



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Betrayal!AU, Gen, Hawk Moth Wins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-07 12:19:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19209295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/norakwami/pseuds/norakwami
Summary: For every action, there is a reaction. For every wish, a price to pay in return.They'd acted with the best intentions when they wrestled the Earrings of the Ladybug and the Ring of the Black Cat away from their dearest friends. Now, Alya and Nino find themselves dealing with the consequences of their choices.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by [this](https://autumnlover13moni8.tumblr.com/post/185527465206/betrayal-au-gabriel-wins-where-the-classalya) post on Tumblr. 
> 
> I honestly don't know where I'm going with this, considering I sat down to work on The Lies That Bind Us and ended up with this instead. Oops?

Rena Rouge and Carapace race across the rooftops of Paris, ignoring the cheers and shouts from civilians on the streets below them.

The normalcy of the day is surreal after the events they've just witnessed. The events _they had helped orchestrate._ Rena misses her footing and falls into an alley, rolls to her knees even as her kwami abandons her and leaves her to retch as the realization of what they've done drives itself home.

Carapace lands next to her, his own transformation unraveling. Wayzz spirals out of the bracelet and joins Trixx above them. None of them speak.

What is there to say, when Ladybug— _Marinette_ —is effectively dead by their hands?

A shadow falls over her and she looks up through her tears into Chat Noir's burning green eyes. _Adrien's_ burning green eyes. He stalks towards her and she shrinks away from him. Nino squares his shoulders and steps between them, futile as the gesture is. Chat brushes past him like he's nothing, stripping him of the turtle Miraculous in the process.

“I—I'm sorry,” she stammers. It's not enough. It will never be enough and they all know it.

“Yeah,” Chat growls after a moment. “You are.”

He raises a clawed hand to her neck. She flinches as the razor-sharp edges brush her skin. For a moment she's frozen by the knowledge that he can unmake her with a single word if he so desires—but he's silent as he removes the fox Miraculous. The necklace joins the bracelet in one of his pockets.

Then he's gone, vanishing into the city without so much as a backward glance.


	2. Chapter 2

Fu Wang sits at his low table, meditatively contemplating the cup of green tea he holds. He's acutely aware of the quiet of his little shop, exaggerated by the absence of the little god who's been his constant companion for a lifetime and more. It's becoming more and more frequent these days as Hawk Moth's abilities grow, and it's in these stretches of silence when he finds himself contemplating the wisdom of finally passing the turtle Miraculous on.

The boy Ladybug has chosen to be Carapace is well-suited to the role, even if Fu won't have enough time to properly train him as a Guardian. It won't be necessary, he thinks. Marinette has been an eager student so far, and will serve far better in the role than he himself has. It's a pity that she still struggles with deciphering the Guardians' code even with the hours he's invested in teaching it to her, but that's likely one of those areas where Adrien's strengths can shore up her weaknesses.

His ruminations are interrupted by the sound of his front door opening. He winces as it closes a little more forcefully than he cares for, but prepares to greet Marinette as Tikki zips into the room and alights on the plate of cookies he's prepared for her.

He's not expecting _Chat Noir_ to stagger into the room, detransforming as he falls to his knees beside the table. He slumps with his head against the wood even as Plagg zips into the boy's pocket and reappears with the fox and turtle Miraculous. Fu takes the bracelet automatically and secures it around his wrist. The second Wayzz appears he flies down to where Tikki is and enfolds her into a hug.

Plagg pops out of Adrien's pocket again and places the butterfly and the peacock Miraculouses next to the fox.

“You have _won_ ,” Fu says incredulously.

Adrien laughs hollowly. “No,” he says. “We lost.”

 


End file.
